Firing mechanism for automatic firearms



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' C SUTTER FIRING MEQHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS F led J l 2l. 1924 QQJ. u y

C. SUTTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 21, 1924 031070,/ l.. [mit ffllllallllaf/laaa www@ March 24, w25. Y Lssm c. sufr'rER FIRINGHMCHANISM Fon AUTOMATIC FIREARMS 1 Filed July 2l. 1924 3 Sheets-Sh-eef 3 Patente 'Mai'. 24, 1925.

CHARLES SUTTER,

ANCIENS ETABLI To all whom it may Be it known that citizen of the Republic of France,

at 42 Rue E France, provements FRING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC FIREARMS.

Application led July 21, 1924. Serial No. 727,313.

concern I, CHARLES SU'r'iER, residing mile Zola, Suresnes, Seine,

have invented new and useful lmin Firing Mechanisms for Automatic Firearms, of which the follow- The present mechanism for automatic lire-arms. firing mechanism renders it possible,

is a specification.

invention relates to a iring This by suitably placing a lateral lever acting upon an axis which passes through the casing, to

eect either continuous or machine-gun firing in which latter after firing a shot, to

release the trigger and to actuate it again,

or again to assume which, while gun, .does ever may trigger.

the safety position, not preventing coclring the not permit of firing a shot whatbe the action exerted upon the The mechanism according tothe invention, is essentially bination of a characterized by the comtrigger, a scar, a lever plvoted at one extremity on the trigger and acting with its other extremity upon the sear, and of a single spring connecting the lever and the sear and ensuring the return of the sear, the trigger and the Sear-lever.

The invention also comprises a safety device which can assume three positions b y rotating upon sents, opposite itself, and in which it preto an inclined plane oit the Sear-lever, either a flattened surface which has no action upon the plane, or a circular portion which in such a manner gaged from the sear, ward stroke, or,

acts upon the inclined plane that the-lever is disenat the end 'of its rearinally, it presents an eccentric projection which releases the lever from' the sear so 'as to prevent any action of this lever upon the sear, if the trigger is pulled. matically comp anying drawings Figs. 1 and The invention is shown diagramand by wa'y of example in the acin which:

1JL are longitudinal sectional views of an automatic gasoperatcd gun,

provided with thel cording to the the trigger bei tiring mechanism ac.- invention.

2 shows the firing mechanism in the to continuous fire, ng held by thc linger.

Fig. 3 shows the mechanism in the position for single shot firing, the trigger bcing held by the linger. l

Fig. 4 shows the mechanism in the safety position.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the whole of the tiring mechanism.

The firing mechanism is mounted in a casing 1 and is located beneath the weapon, under which 'it is held by the pin 2 and by a movable 'pin 3 (Fig. 5).

The parts of the mechanism comprise: the scar 4, upon which will be noticed the head carrying the engaging hool; 5, tail-piece G and its eye Jfor the reception of the spring 7; the arm 8 slotted for the passage of the scar-lever 9 and the shoulder 10; the scar is pivoted upon the casing axis 11.

The scar-lever 9 has a hole 12 into which the spring 7 can be hooked, a-head 13 pivoted upon the trigger about an axis-1G, an inclined plane 14 co-operating with the safety lever and a hook 15 acting upon the arm 8 of the sear. A

The trigger 17 is slotted in the centre at its upper end so as to receive the head 13 of 'the lever 9, and carries a shalt 16 iXed thereto, about which the lever can pivot.

The safety device consists of an aiisi 18 which can be operated by an external fle-Xible lever 19; a pin fixes this lever in three different positions; the axis 18 has a ilattened portion 20 and a projection 21.

It will be noticed that a single spring 7 acts upon the sear 4, upon the scar-lever 9 and upon the trigger 17; on the other hand, the scar-lever 9 engaging the pivot 16 ot the trigger 17 is held thereon when assembling and dis-assen'ibling the mechanism by the tube 22 which serves asl an axis for the trigger; finally, the front portion of the afar-lever 9 carrying the hook 15 is positioned by the slot formed in the bottom of the arm 8 of the scar 4.

The method of operation is as follows: The mechanism is shown at rest in Fig. 9. rl`he head of the sear projects into the receiver; if the weapon is cocked by hand, the piston, or any other movable member in any other type of weapon, meets the 'inclincd plane ot the head 5 ot the sear; this latter moves down, thereby tensioning the or sUREsNEs, ERANE, AssI'GNon 'ro SOCIETE ANONYME DEs ssEMEN'rs HoTcHKiss Er COMPAGNIE, or sT. DENis, FRANCE.

around the i vsear 4.

. firing, all the spring 7 .and moves up again as soon as it meets its recess in the piston or other movable member. If the cooking movement is stopped, the piston advances under the action of its returning spring, which was tensioned during the recoil, and engages the The safety lever 18, 19 having been placed for continuous re (Figs. 1 and 2)', if the trigger 17 is pulled, it takes with it the searlever 9, by means of its axis 16, and the Sear-lever causes the sear 4 to oscillate by means of its hook 15; the' head of the sear 5 gives way and the piston is released; the shaft 18 presents its Hattened portion 2O to the inclined plane 14 of the Sear-lever 9; this latter cannot release itself from j the arm 8 of the tail of the sear, the head 5 remains in its lowermost position as long as pressure is exerted upon the trigger 17 and the firing will be continuous; it is evident that by releasing the trigger during parts resume their original position; the piston remains in engagement with the sear 4 and firing is stopped. The safety lever beingset for single-short firing (Fig. 3), the shaft 18 presents its solid por- -tion to the incline 14; it follows that if the trigger is' pulled, the Sear-lever y9 causes, by means of its hook 15, the sear 4 to swing and its head 5 to disappear; but during the disappearance of this head, the incline 14 of the lever slides upon safety lever in such -a manner that when the piston is released, the tail 8 of the sear is also released; the head 5 of the sear can rise as soon as the piston has moved sulficiently far forwards, and once the shot has been fired, can sink: and then rise in order have the effect,

again to retain the piston; but it is necessary to release the trigger in order to enable the hook 15 of the scar-lever 9 to en- .gage in front of the arm 8 of the sear and to actuate it afresh.

Finally, the safety-lever 18, 19 being placed in the position shown in Fig. 4, the projection 21 of the safety lever, which serves at the .same time to hold the lever in the casing, depresses the Sear-lever 9 so as to avoid its hook 15 being engaged by -the arm 8 of the sear 4.

The cocking movement will be possible, but any action upon the trigger will only i this trigger is not completely 'wedged by the abutment ofthe hook 15V upon the casing (Fig. 4), to move the The invention has been shown and dehook 15 still further away from the sear 4.4

gas-operated gun but it is evidently applicable to any other type of fire-arm.

claim 1. A firing mechanism for automatic fire arms comprising a pivoted trigger having a. cut away portion between the trigger and the shaft of thev spaced from the trigger pivot, a Sear-lever' having a curved end fitting against said trigger pivot and about said pin, said searlever extending forwardly of the the trigger andv having an upstan un from ing plug from its intermediate part with an inclined rear face and an upstanding hook at its forward free end, a sear pivoted at its intermediate. part above said hook and extending forwardlyl of its `pivot point with a tail piece extending rearwardly of the pivot, a coil spring connecting the rear end of said tail piece with a Sear-lever adjoining said pin, said sear having -an arm extending downwardly from the pivot thereof into close proximity to saidhook and having a slotted lower end for guiding the free end of said Sear-lever, and a rotary safety device mounted in -conjunction with the inclined surface of said lug having three graduated steps for shifting the scar-lever and hook into or out of engagement with said arm of the sear or into an intermediate position adapted to engage and release the sear upon each movement of the trigger.

2. A firing mechanism for automatic fire arms comprising a pivoted trigger, a sear- 'lever extending forwardly from the trigger. and pivoted thereto, said Sear-lever having an inclined lug at its intermediate art and an upstanding hook at its free en a sear pivoted above said hook and having an arm `extending down for engagement with the hook, said arm having a slotted lower end in which the kfree end of said` scar-lever is guided, a. tail piece on said sear,4 a coil springv connected between said tail piece and the Sear-lever near the pivoted end thereof, and a safety device mounted for cooperation with said inclined lug and having three stepped surfaces ,for engagement with said inclined lug whereby to move said Sear-lever t engage or entirely disengage said hook' from the arm of the sear or to move said Sear-lever to an intermediate position where the hook will engage orslide off the \arm of the Sear at each pulling of the trigger.

3. A firing mechanismfor automatic re arms comprising a sear having a pivot point and a tail piece extending substantially horizontally to the rear of said pivot point, an arm extending down from said scar, a Sear-lever extending below and substantially parallel with said sear and tail piece' and having a hook at its forward free end adapted lto engage with said arm of the sear, a pivoted trigger, means whereby said scar-lever is pivotally connected to said tri resillent means between said scar-lever and said tail piece of the sear, a safety device acting on said Sear-lever for shifting the hook into or out of engagement with said ger and for movement'with a trigger,

arm o1' to an intermediate position for engagement and slipping 0H the arm at each movement of the trigger.

4. A firing mechanism for automaticl fire arms comprising a sear having a tail piece and an arm extending downwardly from the Sear', a pivoted trigger, a Sear-lever ycoupled for movement Withi said trigger and pivoted to said trigger for swinging movement of-its own, said Sear-lever having at its free forward end means for engaging With the resilient means directly coupling said tail piece of the Sear with the rear end portion of said Sear-lever, and a. safety device acting on the intermediate part of said searlever for shifting the same into and out of engagement with said arm or to an inter' mediate position engagingv with and slipping o said arm at each movement of said trigger.

CHARLES SUTTER.

arm of said Sear, a single 

